Survey of Athletic Needs Among Harper Community and Students. Research Report Series. Vol. 4, No. 15.

William Rainey Harper Coll., Palatine, IL.

To obtain data about the Harper College students' and community's attitudes toward athletic programs at the college, a survey was conducted of 200 full-time and 200 part-time students and 200 randomly selected households within the school district. The return rate for the survey questionnaire was 57 percent for full-time students, 49 percent for part-time students, and 37 percent for the households. Results of the survey, which are tabulated, showed that: (1) 61 percent of the students and 41 percent of the households favored an expanded athletic program; as related to physical education, 77 percent of students and 62 percent of households favored expansion; (2) athletic programs that would be popular additions were swimming, diving, skiing, rifle, gymnastics, and hockey; (3) the largest barrier to increasing both participant and spectator interest in athletics was the lack of facilities; (4) 50 percent of the community indicated they would be willing to pay $5.00/year or more to expand the program, and 51 percent of the students would support a $1.00 increase in the activity fee to enable program expansion; and (5) 85 percent of the community and students favored the building of a new athletic facility. An appendix presents a description of the various sports programs at Harper College and a copy of the community survey form. (DB)